


Voltron Legendary Defender: Keith I

by hayleekogane



Series: Voltron Legendary Defender: Keith [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, POV Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-10-26 04:17:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20736107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hayleekogane/pseuds/hayleekogane
Summary: The plot of Voltron but through Keith's eyes.





	1. Keith 1.1.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Brother by Kodaline

Keith 1.1

I can’t explain it, but I just knew that today everything would change. The day went by slowly as if time itself wanted to spite me, taunting my weird and foreign excitement. As evening came, and the sun started to set, I knew that whatever I had been expecting to happen, was about to take place. I grabbed my scruffy red jacket, that’s lived way beyond its life expectancy, and raced out the door with my jet’s keys in my hand, and my shoes pounding the pavement.

I flew my hover jet to an outcropping that looked over the Garrison and the valley beyond it, so I could keep an eye on things. Twenty minutes into my stakeout I realized that I’m acting totally irrationally. Nothing is gonna happen, this was stupid, what was I thinking. This was a complete and utter waste of my time. 

I must just be going bat shit crazy, too much time alone with my own thoughts.

I picked up a stone to my right and throw it over the side of the cliff, hoping my anger, frustration, and stupidity might disappear along with it. But to no avail, I am still, standing alone, on a rocky cliff, and it's starting to get cold and dark. Stupid. I turn towards my hovercraft, ready to leave, when I get chills on the back of neck, goosebumps, like a premonition. I know that it’s probably nothing, and I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but with one last-ditch effort to trust my gut, I peer behind me. And when I look up, I see what looks like a giant meteorite crashing towards the earth, with a spectacular tail of pink and orange lighting up the purple-blue of the sky. This is what I’ve been waiting for.

With a new sense of urgency and I jog over to my hoverbike and started towards the floor of the valley, this feeling that has been sitting with me all day was right. Something big is on the horizon, both literally and figuratively. I have no idea what this meteor is, or what is about to happen, but I do know that I need to find out, and maybe, just maybe, I might have some use for that dynamite that I’ve been holding on to after all.

After I placed the dynamite strategically on the opposite side of the valley of where I’ll be, I take another look at where I believe that meteor must have crashed. To my surprise, I don’t see a meteor, but rather a wrecked alien spaceship that appears to have seen better days, and just as I suspected, Garrison officials have already taken the scene over. 

Once again, I can’t explain what came over me, but I just knew that I had to get in there, I had to sneak into that Garrison tent, a tent that was heavily guarded, a tent that will probably lead to my inevitable arrest, and lifetime in federal prison. But for some God-forsaken reason, I am gonna sneak into that compound and figure out exactly what the Garrison is currently working very hard to keep very quiet.

I take a few calming breaths, and I press the large button on the remote in my pocket. Which detonates the controlled explosions I set up on the far side of the Valley, I look at the guards posted outside the tent as they run amok trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and taking off in the exact direction that I want them to, away from me. 

I can’t help but smile to myself as I imagine a flustered Commander Iverson, stumbling upon absolutely nothing when he goes to investigate my orchestrated chaos, it’s the little things you know?

As soon as the coast is clear I move from behind the boulder that was covering my position and make my way towards, for lack of a better word, my destiny.

I run towards the tent, imagining myself a shadow, my dark hair blending in with the night, my mouth covered by a dark purple bandana. In a few moments, I find myself at the entrance to the compound, I take long quiet steps, in an effort to conceal my presence for as long as possible. I follow the compact hallways in the large tent until I can reach the center. When I find the threshold, I peer into the vast center space, it has a cot in the center, with what looks like a young man tied down to it. Moving around the room, are three scientists, and I do what needs to be done.

I charge at the first scientist, stand on my right leg and swing my left around to serve him with a roundhouse kick that sends him flying to the floor across the room, the second scientist approaches me, intent on sending me packing but little does he know what's coming for him. Once he gets close enough I knee him in the stomach and when he crouches down in pain I punch him in the jaw, and he’s out cold. While I was finishing the last guy, the third scientist must have started sneaking up behind me, and he grabs my neck, but I use his momentum against him, I leaned down and swing him up and over my head, throwing him across the room. With all three scientists out for the count, I can finally approach the man on the table.

I walked over to him, ready to help him in any way I can when I see his face.

I hear his voice, “I’m never gonna give up on you”  
My brother, not by blood, but by circumstance, by choice.  
I don’t say it to him then, but I want to tell him, I’m not gonna give up on him either.

When I’m back to myself, I can’t help but whisper his name, a name I never thought I’d say again, “...Shiro.”

At that moment, I knew I needed to get him out of here. I don’t know how he’s alive, I don’t know how he got here, and if I didn’t know any better, I think that Shiro might have been the one flying that Alien ship a few hours ago. 

I have so many questions but all of those are pushed to the back of my mind because I have to get my unconscious-back-from-the-dead-friend out of here as fast as possible. I cut him out of the restraints, and lift him up, draping his arm across my shoulder when suddenly I can hear footsteps coming from the hallway where I entered from. My body is immediately on edge, thrumming with adrenaline, ready for a fight, when I look up and see yet another face I never thought I’d see again.

Lance Mcclain’s.


	2. Keith 1.1.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Someone to You by Banners

Keith 1.2

He was shorter then, full of confidence and swagger.  
He would try and better me, but I would always win. I debated a few times purposely crashing the simulator, to let him beat me just once, but I knew even then, that he wouldn’t want to win that way.

I remember his laugh most of all, and his crooked smile, and the way he would always make a fool of himself even if he wasn’t trying.

I would watch him with his friends, his peers, at first with envy, but then with admiration, and finally I became jealous of his friends for their close connection to him. To Lance.

Our relationship consisted of his frustrated growls, and comments.  
“Oh come on!”  
“Are you kidding me?!”  
And heated glares across the room, the briefest of glances in the hallways as we passed.  
Our relationship mostly existed in my head, unable to keep this silly-cocky-wanna-be-pilot out of my mind. 

We had a relationship, but it wasn’t the one I wanted. And all hopes for anything faded out of the realm of reality when I left the Garrison, when I was well, forcibly removed from the Garrison.

Lance Mcclain is here.

What are the fucking odds?

He rushes into the room, with his trademark green jacket, and chestnut hair, yelling, “Nope. No, you—No, no, no, no, no, no, no you don't. I'm saving Shiro.”

I’ve played this over and over again in my imagination, of what I would say if I saw him again. But for some reason, the only way I can react is by pretending I don’t remember who he is, and as he helps grab Shiro’s other arm to assist me, I geniusly reply, “Who are you?”

What am I thinking? What the hell was that?

Lance seems as shocked by my moment of forgetfulness as I am, “Who am I? Uh, the name's Lance.”

Of course, he’s upset, while we never really talked to each other, we most certainly knew of each other. Oh well, too late to go back now…

Lance continues after a moment, “... we were in the same class at the Garrison?”

I’m in deep now, shit, what do I say? Think think…. “Really? Are you an engineer?”  
Wow, that’s the worst response in the entire universe. Two minutes with Lance Mcclain and I lose every single ability to think and speak coherently.

Lance shifts under Shiro’s weight, shakes his head, “No, I'm a pilot. We were, like, rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck-and-neck…?” 

He keeps pausing, waiting for me to acknowledge some sort of memory, but I just can’t seem to give him what he wants. He stares at me with his dark coffee eyes and I finally give him an inch when he deserves a mile, “Oh wait, I remember you. You're a cargo pilot.” Lance deserves so much more than some jerk lying to his face about even remembering him, but what can I say, I’m not a good guy.

He nods a little but then straightens as he says, “Well, not anymore. I'm fighter class now thanks to you washing out.”

And honestly, I was happy for him at that moment, so so happy, at least something good came out of my miserable life, but I can’t possibly tell him that so I say, “Well, congratulations.” Wow Kogane, could that have come across any more deadpanned? No.

And with my spectacular moment of awkwardness, we carry Shiro out of this torture tent, where we meet up with Lance’s friends. The first one is incredibly large, and he would actually be pretty intimidating if it wasn’t for the smile in his eyes, without even saying a word, he actually makes me feel better, more calm, almost comforted… I do not like that at all. The second one is on the other side of the spectrum, tiny, big eyes, even bigger glasses, definitely the brains of the operation. He could be useful. 

Once we are out of the tent, Shiro in tow, the big friend announces to the group, “Oh, man, they're coming back and they do not look happy. We gotta go. Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?”

It takes me a moment to realize that he’s talking to me. Before I can tell them to get as far away from me as possible and leave me alone while giving them a withering stare I’ve been practicing my whole life, the friends and Lance, haul Shiro on to my hoverbike and hop on. Well, this is just great.

The small friend, who I had assumed was the smart one asks, “Is this thing going to be big enough for all of us?”

Ask a stupid question get a frustrating answer, “No.” I practically growl. 

After everyone gets situated on my two-seater hovercraft that I have decided to let everyone stay on, the small one poses yet another dumb question to the group, “Why am I holding this guy?” Which is followed by a similarly stupid proclamation by the large one, “Hey, we did all fit!” 

To drown out anything else, I start the bike, and unfortunately, the bike isn’t going its usual fast speeds, and I’m definitely getting concerned about all the crotchety professors and government officials on our tail. How am I gonna lose them…

Breaking the beautiful silence, Lance has the gall to ask, “Can't this thing go any faster?”

Ok that’s it, no more Mr. Nice-Guy

I respond, “We could toss out some non-essential weight.” 

“Oh, right!” It takes Lance a few moments then, “OK, so that was an insult. I get it.”

Damn, he’s adorable. But I have to focus, “Big man, lean left!” And with the help of Large Friend©️ we have enough momentum to make the sharp left turn we needed, perfect. 

As I hoped, and as Large Friend©️ commented, “Aw man! Mr. Harris just choked out Professor Montgomery!” Good. “No, no, he's fine.” Too bad…

“Big man, lean right!”

With this next turn, we gained some pretty good distance, but I have one more trick up my sleeve to ensure that we lose them.

Soon after our right turn, Large Friend©️ exclaims, “Guys? Is th-th-th-tha-tha—Is that a cliff up ahead?” Well, there goes my big reveal.

Lance follows up big friend, “Ooooh no, no, no! No, no, no, no—!” Aw, he’s scared, cute. Don’t worry I got you.

But I can’t help myself, “yup.”

Lance, yells "What are you doing?! You're going to kill us all!"

And I finally get to say, what I've been waiting to say, "Shut up and trust me!" Lance Mcclain. 

With that, I rev the engine, and with all the power this bike has left, and all its extra passengers I send us careening off the cliff.


	3. Kieth 1.1.3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: for him. (feat. Allday) by Troye Sivan

Kieth 1.3

After the whole cliff fiasco, I decide that I have no other option but to take the entire group to my ramshackle cabin. I’ve never really had company here before. My dilapidated cabin in the middle of the desert, home sweet home. Empty, desolate, and abandoned, just how I like it. 

As we drive up, I look straight ahead, I can’t bear seeing the looks on the group’s faces as we get closer. Especially Lance’s. I don’t want pity, pity makes me feel weak, and boy do I despise that feeling. So forward I look. When we arrive, I take a look at my house trying to see it through their eyes, and it's almost comical. It's a twenty by thirty foot space, with a porch that's falling apart and probably has some animal hiding underneath, the shutters on the front windows are hanging on by their last hinges, and a door that's a crack open, because it just can’t close all the way and definitely doesn’t lock. 

I park the hovercraft and help the coming to Shiro off. I still can’t believe that he’s really back. I thought he was gone. Months have passed, I’ve lost track of all the time, I grieved, I had moved on, well, I moved on as well as I could. And by as well as I could, I mean I got kicked out of an elite military pilot school and moved into an abandoned cabin in the middle of the desert, and if that isn’t acceptance I don’t know what is.

After I get Shiro into the house and onto the couch in my living-room/dining room/office, I finally breathe. The sun has risen, and a new day has begun, and the weight of all the events of the day before really start to hit me. My gut was right, everything did change, whether it was for better or worse is still yet to be seen. 

I leave Shiro to rest and step outside to think.

“So where the hell are we?” a voice more familiar than my own calls out.

I lift my hand up to my face, I nearly forgot about the three stowaways that I brought along with Shiro. 

I look through my fingers, yup, that's Lance Mcclain, actually here, not a dream.

“My home, breathtaking, isn't it? Are you impressed?”

“Kieth,” Lance says softly as he approaches me, his two friends investigating my hoverbike in the distance, “what happened to you after you left?”

“Oh nothing, just living the teenage dream at my bachelor pad”

“Kieth, I know you don’t really remember me all that much but,” he pauses, speak dammit, “everything changed once you were gone.”

“For the better right?” 

“Kieth, you might have been allowed to forget about me, but the instructors never let me forget about you, it's not that easy constantly living in your shadow.” The desert suddenly felt so still, with the sun rising in the distance, and Lance looking at me with such vulnerability, for a moment I’m speechless, Lance never forgot about me. He probably thought about me every day, obviously, they weren’t good thoughts, but they were thoughts all the same. God. He probably hates me. How do I keep hurting people even after I leave? And right as I start to respond, I look up to see Shiro leave the Cabin. I look back at Lance and he gives me a nod, giving me permission to leave, “You and your friends can go inside, I think we have a lot to talk about,” and this conversation is not over.

I walk up to Shiro who is standing on a little hill outside the cabin, staring at the horizon. “It's good to have you back,” I tell him, glad my voice didn’t break.

“It's good to be back” and there it is, the voice that I never thought I’d get the chance to hear again, I’m so glad he’s here, I’m not alone anymore.

“So what happened out there? Where... were you?”

“I wish I could tell you. My head's still pretty scrambled. I was on an... alien ship but... somehow I escaped. It's all a blur. How did you know to come save me when I crashed?” Shiro has clearly been through a lot, and I don’t want to push him, but I can’t shake the feeling that what he’s seen and experienced is something every one of us should fear.

“You should come see this,” I tell him as I turn to guide him back to the cabin.

Once we’ve all gathered in my cabin, I prepare to share all my findings over the past few months, and they are all going to think that I’m completely out of my mind, I’m not even sure I’m sane, how I can I expect them to trust me when I don’t even completely trust myself?

Before I could stammer out a way to start the conversation, Shiro beats me to it, “What have you been working on?”

Well here goes nothing, I gesture towards my serial killer crime bored that’s filled with photos connected by a different colored string, “I can't explain it, really. After getting booted from the Garrison, I was kinda... lost and... felt myself drawn out to this place. It's like something... some energy was telling me to search.”

“For what?”

“Well, I didn't really know at the time... until I stumbled across this area. It's an outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these ancient markings. Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading to some event, some arrival happening last night. Then you showed up.” Now that I have shared my weird experience with the whole gang, I wait for everyone to stand up and leave, I wouldn’t be surprised if this actually was the last time I ever saw Lance again.

Then Shiro speaks up, breaking the silence and approaches Lance as if he could hear my thoughts, “... I should... thank you all for getting me out. Lance, right?”

Lance seems surprised that Shiro even knows of his existence, and stares in awe at Shiro’s mysterious prosthetic space arm, don’t think that got past me, as he holds it out for a handshake, after a few moments Lance shakes his hand.

Then small boy introduces himself and Large Friendⓒ, “The nervous guy's Hunk. I'm Pidge. So, did anyone else from your crew make it out?”

Interesting, a good question from Pidge maybe he is the smart one, after all, I peer at Shiro expectantly. 

“I'm not sure. I remember the mission and being captured. After that, it's just bits and pieces.” Shiro answers. 

Then Hunk interjects, “Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but back to the aliens. Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they coming for all of us? Like where are they at this very moment?”

To which Shiro gently answers, “I can't really put it together. I-I remember the word "Voltron". It's some kind of weapon they're looking for, but I don't know why. Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do.”

Well, that's ominous… unless that has something to do with the blue lion I’ve been searching for… I wonder…

The gears start moving in my mind, the pieces coming together when Huck says, “Well last night, I was rummaging through Pidge's stuff, and I found this picture. Look it's his girlfriend.” Showing off a photo that was obviously private, smooth dude, true friendship.

Pidge clearly upset yells, “WHAT?!”

Unphased by Pidges emotional and completely reasonable outburst, Hunk continues with his anecdote, “And I noticed that the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line.”

Okay, maybe Pidge isn’t the only smart one in this group after all.

I can’t help but ask, “Frown... who?”

Thankfully Hunk has no problem explaining, “It's a number describing the emission spectrum of an element, this element doesn't exist on Earth. I thought it might be this Voltron, and I think I can build a machine to look for it, kinda like a Voltron Geiger Counter.”

It seems like I’m not the only one who just caught up, Lance exclaims, “Hunk, you big, gassy genius!”

After Hunk riffles through Pidge’s journal, he pulls out what looks like a graph, “It's pretty fascinating, really. Th-The wavelength looks like this.”

Shit, that looks really familiar, “Give me that” and I rip the graph from his hands. 

I walk the graph over to my serial killer board, yup exactly as I thought, the graph looks just like a photo of a rocky outcropping that is home to a cave with the most cave drawings of the blue lion.

Shiro walks over to me, and after he sees what I see he asks, “Can you take us there?”

All I can do is nod as I look at my ghostly friend.

Shiro commands me, “Lead the way then.”

And that’s exactly what I do.


	4. Kieth 1.1.4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Young Volcanos by Fall Out Boy

Keith 1.4

Thanks to Hunk’s invention, I can finally figure out exactly what's been hiding out in this desert, calling out to me. Maybe its this Voltron thing that Pidge and Shiro keep going on about, but if it is some horrible alien weapon then what could it possibly be doing here on Earth? It just doesn’t make any sense, and why would it be calling out to me of all people? I don’t get it. It's like every time I get an answer to one of my questions, three more take its place. It's so frustrating.

As we meander through the desert in our ragtag posse, I start to question if Hunk’s alien element reader is actually reading anything before I say anything that I’d probably regret, Lance interjects, “... OK. I admit it. This is a super freaky.” As we approach the cave with all the lion drawings. 

Hunk responds, “I'm getting a reading.” Okay, maybe his device does work.

After entering the cave, Shiro points at the engravings, “What are these?”

“These are the lion carvings I was telling you about. They're everywhere around here,” I answer as I trace my hand over all the ridges and grooves. Letting the warmth of my hand get smothered by the coldness of the rough stone, allowing that feeling to ground me.

Lance approaches behind me, unable to resist touching the marks as well, places his palm on the cave wall, and yells, “Whoa... Whoa!” as the marking light up with a blue glow.

SHIT! How is this even possible? How did he do this? I can’t hide the surprise from my face as I stare at Lance in wonder. I dumbly reply, “Heh, they've never done that before.” No duh, they haven’t, what is wrong with me?

But before I can continue to put my foot in my mouth, the ground beneath us falls away and we all hurtle through the Earth.

We all land with a splash in some sort of cave puddle, after I get my bearings, I looked up to see Lance up ahead of me, but Lance is looking forward, completely captivated by something, and once I look past him I can see why. Just ahead of us is a giant blue metal lion surrounded by what looks like a glowing blue force field. 

Lance, in a voice just above a whisper, says, “They are everywhere.” I think on that for a bit trying to grasp the grandeur of what he’s suggesting, that Aliens have visited our planet, walked among us, and they’ve left something behind as well. 

As Pidge approaches the lion with Lance and I, he asks, “Is this it? Is this the Voltron?”

Shiro answers before anyone else can, “It... must be.”

Wow, “this is what's been causing all this crazy energy out here,” this is what has been calling out to me all this time. I’m not crazy, at least not completely. But, I’ve been here before, walked those caves many times, but not once have I stumbled in here, not until Lance. Lance made the markings light up, Lance was the catalyst that opened the secret door to get us all here…. But how? 

I have to get a closer look, I get as close to this mysterious blue dome that surrounds the robotic lion as I dare. Placing my hands as near to the surface as I can without touching it, I can feel the energy pulsing off of it, weak, but ever-present, a constant force. “Looks like there's a force field around it” I explain.

I look over at Lance, he looks so nervous and kinda pale. I’m about to reach out to him when he says, “Does anyone else get the feeling this is staring at them?”

Interesting.

Shiro replies with a perplexed, “Hmm... No.”

I look back up at the lion, definitely, yeah, it's definitely not staring, well, not at me. I shift my gaze back to Lance. He’s shaken up, “Yeah. The eyes are totally following me” he claims. Shifting around the room, as if to track the movement of the lion’s eyes.

I turned my attention back to the force field in front of me, focus Kogane, I press my hands against the force field, “I wonder how we get through this.”

Lance stands next to me and answers, “Maybe you just have to knock.”

Before I can protest, he knocks on the shining shield, and to my complete and utter shock, the shield glows brighter for a second, bathing Lance in a spectacular cobalt light, illuminating his graceful cheekbones, and complimenting his brown eyes in such a way… Stop it, get a grip, Keith.  
I tear my eyes away from Lance just as the glow fades and the force field disappears. I am suddenly somewhere else, and I see what looks like five different colored lions merge together to form a humanoid battle robot. Together we collectively exhale, “Woah…” and we are back in the cave, staring at this giant blue lion.

Lance is the first to break the silence, “Uh, did everyone just see that?”

To which Hunk answers with a “Voltron is a robot! Voltron is a huge, huge, awesome robot!”

Pidge joins in with Hunk, “And this is only one part of it! I wonder where the rest of them are.”

Shiro solemnly adds, “This is what they're looking for.”

I almost forgot that this is a part of a weapon that some advanced alien species also wants to find. This discovery is just so huge, too big for my mind to handle at once.

“Incredible,” I add lamely.

Suddenly, the lion lowers its head and opens its mouth towards Lance, beckoning us all inside. Lance hesitates at first then says, “Here we go.”

We all walk into the lion, as a team, and Lance takes a seat in the cockpit. The pilot seat automatically adjusts itself and Lance lets out a surprised squeal. Followed by a nervous chuckle, “Hehe... Alright! Very nice!”

Oh he’s definitely freaking out, and he’s not doing very good at hiding it, but I won’t call him out, yet…

Meanwhile, Hunk feels the need to say, “OK guys, I-I feel the need to point out, just so that we're all, y'know, aware: We are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now.”

Thank you captain obvious.

Lance gasps, “Whoa, did you guys just hear that?”

I give him a look, assessing his appearance to make sure he’s okay, before asking, “Hear what?”

Leave it to me to fall for a guy who hears voices.  
“I-I think it's talking to me. Hmm... Um…”

I wait for him to continue as he starts pressing buttons on the glowing dashboard. The lion leans back roars, which is promptly followed by the screams of Pidge and Hunk. “OK. Got it. Now let's try this,” Lance says with faux confidence. 

I wish I could comfort him, but I am honestly just as nervous and unsure as the rest of them. This is completely new and forgive me… alien territory.

I grip the back of Lance’s seat as he smashes the lion out of the cavern and takes off flying. After we are airborne, Lance has the lion doing somersaults and wild turns at completely random intervals, causing Pidge and Hunk to scream again.

And I can’t help myself, “ YOU ARE THE WORST PILOT EVER!”

After Lance does a few more turns and everyone on the lion is sufficiently sick and dizzy, Lance gets the lion to land on flat ground, and the lion starts running.

Lance, looking giddy as ever, proclaims, “Isn't this awesome?!”

Ok, while I am tired, discombobulated, and frustrated, I would be lying if I said that the look of pure joy on Lance’s face didn't trigger something light happy within me, deep, deep within me. But damn it, those butterflies are determined little guys.

Hunk responds with a less than eloquent, “Make it stop! Make it stop!”

With a sheepish look, Lance says, “I'm not making it do anything. It's like it's on autopilot!”

Oh, that's comforting. 

It isn’t long before the lion launches itself up into the sky once again.

“Where are you going?!” unsure of whether or not I’m asking Lance or the lion.

“I just said it's on autopilot!” Lance answers, “It says there's an alien ship approaching Earth. I think we're supposed to stop it.”

Great, just great.

Pidge joins the conversation, “What did it say, exactly?!”

“Well, it's not like it's saying words, more like feeding ideas into my brain, kind of,” Lance explains.

Hunk says, “Well, if this thing is the weapon they're coming for, why don't we just, like—I don't know, give it to them? Maybe they'll leave us alone,” and with a glance to the lion, “Sorry, Lion, nothing personal.”

Shiro answers, “you don't understand. These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path. There's no bargaining with them. They won't stop until everything is dead.”

Obviously not good, and definitely not what we want to happen. There’s got to be another option.

Dejected, Hunk responds, “... Oh. Never mind then.”

As we bicker, the lion climbs higher and higher through Earth’s atmosphere. Once we reach what feels like outer space, a giant alien warship appears ahead of us. Shit.

Hunk screams, “Uh... Holy crow! Is that really an alien ship?!”

Two points for captain obvious.

Shiro says quietly, “They found me…” and I can hear the fear laced in his voice. The terror in his eyes. 

Suddenly we are rocked back, and with another glance, I can see that they are firing some sort of weaponized beams at us. 

Pidge exclaims, “We've got to get it out of here!”

And I couldn’t agree more.

Lance, gripping the gears of the lion’s dash, commands us, “Hang on!” 

Thanks to Lance we are able to dodge most of the enemy fire, when he yells, “Ah! Alright! OK, I think I know what to do!”

Pidge warns, “Be careful, man! This isn't a simulator!”

“Well, that's good. I always wreck the simulator,” Lance remarks, and I can’t help but break into a small grin.

Lance, starting to gain some of his confidence, says, “Let's try this.” And he somehow starts returning fire. 

Impressive.

Shiro congratulates Lance, “Nice job, Lance!”

Lance nods and continues, “OK, I think it's time to get these guys away from our planet.”

Lance flies the lion away from Earth and the alien ship follows us away. 

Looking back at the enemy ship, Hunk hollers, “Oh, no!”

“They're gaining on us!” Pidge adds.

“It's weird. They're not trying to shoot us. Th-They're just chasing,” Lance explains.

Unable to control himself, Hunk says, “OK, seriously, now we think having aliens follow us is good? I am not on board with this new direction, guys.”

I ask Lance, “Where are we?”

But it's Shiro who answers, “Edge of the solar system. There's Kerberos.”

“It takes months for our ships to get out this far. We got out here in five seconds,” Pidge says.

Suddenly, a wormhole appears in front of our ship, and I can’t help but be concerned, and apparently so is Hunk, “What is that?!”

Lance answers with a shrug, “Uh, this may seem crazy, but I think the Lion wants us to go through there.” He finishes as he points at the wormhole.

“Where does it go?” Pidge asks.

Lance replies, “I-I don't know. Shiro, you're the senior officer here. What should we do?”

We all look at Shiro, waiting for his answer, an answer that will change everything, “Whatever's happening, the Lion knows more than we do. I say we trust it, but we're a team now. We should decide together.”

We all exchange glances with each other, fate has brought us here, people from all different backgrounds and ways of life. Strangers whose destiny is together. I look at Lance and nod.

Lance gives me a nod in response and I know that we are thinking the same thing, as he says, “... All right. Guess we're all ditching class tomorrow,” as he flies us through the wormhole, to our future.


	5. Keith 1.1.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Crush by David Archuleta

Kieth 1.5

The lion flies through the center of the wormhole, and we all collectively hold our breaths, leaving the cockpit of the metal lion eerily silent. I peered through the window following the edge of the portal with a move of my head.

Once we are through the gate, it automatically closes behind us, abandoning us all in the middle of uncharted space. I can feel all the panic that I have stifled down before starting to bubble up to surface, what in the hell are we doing? We have no clue where we are, and absolutely no idea how far we just traveled, in the blink of an eye. For the first time in my life, I have no plans, no way to prepare for whatever comes next, and it's terrifying.

Lance is the first to break the silence, “Whoa. That was…”

I glance over at him, his infinite eyes meeting mine, I nod, yeah it was. I think we might be having a moment.

But as soon as our moment begins, it comes to an end with a quick interjection from Hunk puking in the background, I shudder as he struggles to stammer, “So sorry—” before vomiting again. I can’t help but grimace. Disgusting.

Pidge looks thoughtful before adding, “I'm just surprised it took this long.”

So this is normal for Hunk, super.

But before I can offer a witty remark on the subject, Shiro says, “I don't recognize any of these constellations. We must be a long, long way from Earth.” I take a look at the stars surrounding us, and he’s right, nothing looks familiar. Damn.

Then ahead of us, I notice that a planet seems to be coming into focus, to which Lance explains, “The Lion seems to want to go to this planet. I think... I think it's going home.” And right as he finishes speaking, the lion suddenly jets off to the planet, upsetting Hunk’s sensitive stomach yet again. Not good. And in all the commotion we all seem to have crowded Lance who yells, “Guys, personal space! Hunk, your breath is killing me.” I can imagine.

But the insult doesn’t phase Hunk as he says, “Um, is it just me or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious Wormhole? Why are we listening to a robotic lion anyway?”

Lance rebuttals with, “It got us away from that alien warship, didn't it?”

“I don't know if you noticed, but we're in an alien warship,” I tell him.

Lance turns around so he can face me as he says, “Oh, are you scared?”

Is that flirting? Did he just flirt?

Shit shit shit… I cross my arms, and reply, “With you at the helm?” I level my gaze and finish, “Terrified.”

We stare at each, for what feels like forever, when Shiro scolds us, “All right, knock it off! No one's happy to be in this situation, but we're here now. If we want to get through this, we've got to do it together.”

“So, what do we do?” Pidge asks him.

Shiro answers, “First, we find out where we're headed. Lance?”

The lion breaks through the atmosphere of the planet as we all look at Lance who initially shrugs, before looking up and pointing ahead of the lion and says, “there's a Castle up ahead.”

As the lion approaches, I whisper, “wow.”

This castle is white and smooth, with a large central structure surrounded by four smaller pillars like spires. Throughout the castle are bands of turquoise lights. It is standing alone on a rocky shore, one side of it completely surrounded by the water looking over what appears to be an ocean. The other side only connected to land by a long skinny bridge that seems to be falling apart. I don’t think anyone has been taking care of this castle for a really long time.

After the lion lands in a courtyard in front of the main entrance of the castle, Shiro warns, “Keep your guard up.”

I always keep a guard up, but he’s right, we have no idea what could be waiting out here for us.

Pidge asks, “Something wrong?” looking at Shiro.

Shiro responds, “My crew was captured by aliens once. I'm not going to let it happen again.”

I stop in my tracks, instantly regretting bringing everyone to that cave in the first place, what was I thinking of taking Shiro there? He just got back home, and he should be resting. I am so selfish, getting Shiro into a whole new mess before he’s even recovered from the last one. But before I can fall too deep down self hate boulevard, when the lion suddenly stands up. 

Which in turn causes Hunk to scream, “Oh no! Oh no! I knew it was going to eat us! No!” as he runs behind Shiro who is unaffected.

The lion roars, which triggers the doors of the castle to open for us. I glare pointedly at Hunk, who says, “Oh, the door is open.” Then addressing the lion, “Guess I was wrong about you.”

Together we walk into the empty castle. Not a single sound coming from the castle, except for the tapping of our feet against the smooth white floors. 

After a few moments of peering through hallways and looking around, Hunk yells, “Hellooo?”

His voice echoes through the passages, with no response. Hunk shrugs, not knowing what to expect.

Pidge comments, “from the size of the lion, I expected these steps to be bigger,” to no one in particular.

We all regress to our mutually agreed upon silence, when all of a sudden, a beam of light appears, along with a computerized voice that commands, “Hold for identity scan.”

Pidge responds to the voice, “What?”

Followed by Shiro yelling, “Why are we here? What do you want with us?” trying to get answers from the omniscient voice.

Lance and Pidge shout, “Whoa!”

Drawing my attention to a newly lit hallway lined with crystal torches glowing blue.

Pidge shrugs, “I guess we're going that way.”

Together we all walk down the hallway, with more torches lighting up as we go.

Hunk decides to try again as we walk, “Hello? ... Hellooo?”

He still receives nothing but silence in return. After a few minutes of walking, the hallway ends in a circular room, with body-sized tubes along the edges. But something doesn’t feel right to me… like I’m being watched like we aren’t alone anymore.

Lance asks, “Where are we?”

Pidge answers, “It's some kind of control room.”

We all split up wandering around the room. I notice that Hunk has suddenly stopped at one of the tubes and squeals, “Are these guys... dead?”

Dead bodies in tubes, definitely not good, I knew something was seriously wrong with this place.  
Before I can figure out a way for us to get out of here before anything bad happens. I hear a whooshing as one of the tubes opens.

A beautiful girl with long flowing white hair comes tumbling out, reaching with one of her arms and yelling, “Father!” Before she falls right into Lance’s arms. 

Lance’s cheeks turn red before he looks her in the eyes and says, “Hello” in the most flirtatious voice I’ve ever heard.

And it's decided, I really really hate this castle.


	6. Keith 1.1.6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Paint it Black by Andy Black

Keith 1.6

She is absolutely stunning, rich coffee skin, hair white as snow, with deep turquoise eyes. Almost perfect. If you’re into that type, and by ‘that type’ I mean girls. Which I am decidedly not, and Lance most definitely is. 

She looks up at Lance, who is holding her up with his strong arms, and asks in what sounds like a British accent, “Who are you? Where am I?”

To which Lance gallantly responds, “I'm Lance. And you're right here in my arms.”

I stiffen at that, my hands curled into fists. Deep breathes, I’m fine, we’re all fine. I relax again.

“Your... ears,” she says.

Well, that was definitely unexpected.

Surprised by her comment Lance questions, “... Yeah?”

“They're hideous,” she answers, “What's wrong with them?”

I have to stifle a laugh.

"Nothing's wrong with them! They heard exactly what you said about them!" shouts Lance defensively.

This girl then grabs Lance by the ear, knocks the back of his knee, spinning him away from her as he falls, while continually holding on to his ear. 

I won’t deny the moves were impressive, but it's obvious that Lance is in pain and that is not okay. As I am about to jump into action, she starts her interrogation, asking, “Who are you? Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my Castle?”

Lance quickly answers in an attempt to end the pain as soon as possible, “A giant blue lion brought us here! That's all we know!”

She releases him before I jump in, then turns to face the rest of our crew, “How do you have the Blue Lion? What happened to its Paladin? What are you all doing here? Unless... How long has it been?”

Shiro is the first to break the silence softly saying, “We don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help.”

I watch her, readying myself for any sort of sudden attack, she’s unpredictable, dangerous, and she’s still very close to Lance, too close.

“I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea. I've got to find out where we are and how long we've been asleep,” she says as she approaches the console in the center of the room that Pidge was messing around with earlier. She places her hand on the surface, and the whole room lights up.

“Okay, that's how that works,” Pidge comments.

There is a second whooshing sound when another tube suddenly opens. Revealing a red-headed man in a blue uniform. Once again the aggressive and confused alien seems to zero in on Lance. The new man glares at Lance then yells in a similar accent to the princess', “E-Enemy combatants!”

He jumps towards Lance, but Lance quickly side-steps him, causing the man to lose his balance, “Quiznak! You're lucky I have a case of the old 'Sleep Chamber Knees'. Otherwise, I'd grab your head like this,” he says, waving his arms around like a crazed person, “wrap you up like so” he continues, “and—One, two, three—” he snaps, “—Sleepytime!”

While I am completely baffled by this situation, Lance, apparently fluent in crazed alien, responds, “Well, before you did that, I'd—Hoo! Ha! Hiyah” also waving his arms and legs around like a maniac, “—Like that.”

But this strange battle of sorts isn’t over yet since this new alien continues, “Oh, Really?! Well how could you do that when I've already come at you with this?!” bending up and down in some sort of bizarre squat motion, “Ha, ha, ha, ha-ey!"

“Man, these guys are good,” Hunk adds. 

I don’t know what he’s watching but none of this is what I’d call good, except that it gives me an excuse to look at La—

“It can't be…” the princess mutters, interrupting my train of thought, I turn to look at her, I almost forgot that she was working on the console in the middle of the room.

“What is it?” the red-haired alien asks her.

“We've been asleep for 10,000 years!” she exclaims. This… Princess... is over ten thousand years old. I can’t even comprehend that kind of time, to think about how much has evolved on Earth in that time is incomprehensible. 

I study her once more, she appears lost in thought, also attempting to grapple with that sort of time loss, before continuing, “Planet Altea and all of the planets in our solar system have been destroyed. Coran, father is gone. Our entire civilization…” she trails off. Then shouts the name, “Zarkon!”

“Zarkon...?” Shiro asks. 

“He was the King of the Galra. A vile creature and enemy to all free people,” Allura explains.

“I remember now... I was his prisoner.” The room goes quiet for a moment, imagining the horrors that Shiro must have witnessed over the past months.

Allura is the first to respond, “He's still alive? Impossible!”

“I can't explain it, but it's true. He's searching for a superweapon called Voltron,” Shiro answers.

She nods like things are starting to come together, while the rest of us are still left in the dust, “He's searching for it because he knows it's the only thing that can defeat him, and that's exactly why we must find it before he does.”

Shiro said something similar earlier today, I just hope we aren’t too late.

A few minutes later, the red-headed man we learn is named Coran, brings the princess food, “Princess, you must eat. It's been 10,000 years!”

“I'm not hungry.” 

Lance, still baffled by the span of time says, “Man, 10,000 years? That's like one thousand plus ten.”

Oh, hun, that’s so wrong, “That's times ten,” I correct.

Lance looks my way, and glares, “Whatever, dropout.”

I stare him down and almost say something about how if I never dropped out he never would have been promoted, but Hunk shares, “I haven't eaten since breakfast and I'm starving.” 

And before I can point out that none of us have eaten since then, Pidge joins the conversation, “Yeah, but you've thrown up, like, five times.”

“Hmm... Good point,” he says as he starts eating the bright green gelatinous goo that Coran brought out.

In an attempt to change the subject Shiro adds, “I can't believe your civilization created such advanced technology 10,000 years ago. It must have been an incredible place.”

Coran clearly pleased, “Yes, it was... but now it is gone and we're the last Alteans alive.”

Again, my brain is jarred, I can’t believe that this monster, Zarkon, destroyed an entire planet filled with civilians, so many innocent lives lost, an entire race wiped out of existence.

Coran approaches Allura as she starts to cry, and consoles her until she suddenly looks up to see four mice running out of the same tube that she slept in for 10,000 years. Nasty.

“Looks like we're not the last, after all,” she says. But they are mice, I don’t understand how she can take so much comfort in them, they’re definitely not gonna make a big difference when it comes to her decimated alien race, but hey if she finds comfort in small disease-ridden rodents, then— who am I kidding, its weird, not going to sugar coat it.

Suddenly, red lights appear all around us, followed by a loud blaring alarm. An image of a spaceship, similar to the one that attacked us on Earth appears on the screen of the center console, “A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!” Coran shouts.

“How did they find us?!” Allura asks.

“I'm not sure, but I bet it's Keith's fault,” Lance suggests, tauntingly.

That’s it, “Say whatever you've got to say to make yourself feel better…” I say with an exaggerated tone of indifference before adding with a yell, “after getting us stuck on the other side of a Wormhole!” with a stupid gorgeous princess whom you’ve clearly got a thing for, with whom I can’t even dream of having a chance against. I’m seething, I stand with my arms at my sides, fists clenched yet again.

This castle just seems to bring out the worst in me.

“I'LL STICK YOU IN A WORMHOLE!” Lance screams, stepping closer.

I close the distance, our faces so close I can feel the heat of his breath on my cheeks. I’m about to respond when Shiro separates us, “Stow it, cadets! This is no time to place blame, it's time to work as a team” he turns to Allura and Coran, “How long before they arrive?”

“At their speed? Oh, well, uh, carry the two... I'd say probably a couple of days?” Coran answers.

“Good. Let them come! By the time they get here, you five will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon's empire!” Allura aggressively adds.

“Princess, there are five of these Lions. How are we going to find the rest?” Shiro probes, as we start walking away from the room with the sleep pods.

But it's Coran who responds, as we enter what looks like the bridge, “King Alfor connected the Lions to Allura's life force. She alone is the key to the Lions' whereabouts."

Allura approaches a larger main console similar to the one in the other room when she activates it fills the entire room with a map of the universe.

“Whoa!” we say collectively.

“These are... coordinates. The Black Lion looks like it's in the same location as the Blue Lion” Pidge comments.

“Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage!” adds Coran.

“Very observant.” Allura compliments, “That's because the Black Lion is in the Castle.”

“To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon's hands, King Alfor locked it in the Castle. It can only be freed if the other four Lions are present.” Coran explains.

Allura continues, “As you have found, the Lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The Quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his Lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain.”

In Front of Allura holograms of different lions appear, she moves the Black Lion towards Shiro, “The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion.”

She does the same with the Green Lion and Pidge, “The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion. The Blue Lion—” she motions toward Lance.

“—Whope, hold up, let me guess: Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?” Lance interrupts, and I wouldn’t say I disagree…

But Allura is not pleased as she ignores him and moves on, and I smirk, “The... Yellow Lion is caring and kind,” she says motioning the yellow lion towards Hunk, “its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together.”

Then she approaches me, with what looks like the red lion, “The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master,” nothing can ever be easy, can it? “It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable,” great. “Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone. Keith, you will fly the Red Lion.”

“What? This guy?” Lance questions, looking at me.

I look him in the eye, daring him to question me further.

“Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion's coordinates. There must be something wrong with the Castle. After 10,000 years, it... might need some work,” Allura finishes.

“Don't worry, we'll find it soon,” Coran reassures her, “They don't call me ‘The Coranic’ for nothing. It's because it sounds like ‘mechanic’ So... Coranic, mechanic. It's not—It doesn't sound... exactly like it. It's similar” Coran stumbles.

The hologram lions roar and rush towards each other forming one giant, humanoid robot. Voltron.  
“Once all the Lions are united, you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe,” says Allura.

“Awesome!” exclaims Hunk.

“Oh…” mutters Pidge.

“Wait. Okay, we're going to be in there and flying Lions. Got that part. How do Lions turn into legs? Also, is this going to be a long trip? Because I have to pee. Do you pee?” questions Hunk.

“You know we don't have much time,” answers Shiro, “Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the yellow one,” and, “Keith, you stay here. If you locate that Red Lion, go get it.”

“In the meantime, I'll get this Castle's defenses ready. They'll be sorely needed,” decides Allura.

“I'll ready a pod and load in the coordinates so that you can reach the Green Lion,” Coran said, motioning towards Pidge and Shiro.

So I stand alone, watching and waiting as everyone follows orders, and goes to find their lions. I watch as Lance leaves with Hunk, hopping into his new blue lion. He looks so excited, so happy. So I smile too, maybe this won’t be so bad after all.


	7. Keith 1.1.7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: La Da Dee by Cody Simpson

Keith 1.7

I’m pacing back and forth on the castle’s bridge, starting to get restless. It’s been a good hour, and I’m going stir crazy waiting on Allura and Coran to locate the red lion. They’ve got to find it soon, they found the others so fast. Maybe there’s something that they are waiting to tell me until the whole group gets back. Maybe they’ve realized that I’m nothing special, and they are gonna send me back… but I don’t want to go back, I just know that there’s something out here waiting for me. Maybe I can convince them to let me stay even if I’m not a paladin… yeah, that could work.

Right as I step to approach Allura and Coran, Shiro and Pidge get back. Good. One more lion, two to go. We can do this. Now we just have to wait for Lance and Hunk.

We haven’t heard anything from them, so I assume that all is going well. But then Allura whispers something to Coran, all I can make out is something about the wormhole… my eavesdropping is interrupted when Shiro walks over to me and I smile at him. I missed him so much after I thought he died, he was the only family I had, and I am sorry to say that I didn’t handle the loss very well. As much as I appear to be a loner on the outside, I really do need people around me. I need a home, and for a long time, Shiro was my home. “Welcome back,” I say, hearing the echoes of what I said the morning after I got him out of the confines of the Garrison coverup.

He clasps me on the shoulder, “you know I’ll always come back, right?” he asks as he looks me in the eye.

I nod, “I do now” and I stop, not trusting myself to say much more. He’s back, my annoying, protective, and supportive brother is back. And I’m never gonna take him for granted ever again, and I’ll never give up on him ever again either.

Our conversation ends abruptly as I hear Allura contact Lance, “Paladins, please hurry back! I can't hold the Wormhole much longer!”

And with those words, I hold my breath, come on Lance, you have to make it back. Before the transmission cuts off I hear yells and explosions, not good.

All other thoughts leave my mind, leaving only my prayers that Lance can get back in one piece, I never should have let him go alone with just Hunk. I should be there.

But the transmission ends, and all I can do is wait yet again, I start pacing.

I don’t relax until I hear Lance and Hunks’ groans as they walk on to the bridge with all of us.

“You made it,” Allura welcomes them.

Lance responds, “yeah, just barely. That was a nightmare. I almost puked out there. I felt like Hunk!” I grin, same old Lance.

“Think how I felt. I am Hunk,” Hunk adds.

“Yeah... We had a tough time, too,” Pidge says, glancing at Shiro.

“Did we find the Red Lion yet?” Shiro asks Allura and Coran. I pause, momentarily going completely stiff, as I wait for a response to the question that I’ve been wanting to ask myself this entire time. 

I study Coran as he answers, “Allura just located it.” I feel a but coming… “There's a bit of good news and bad news,” yup. “The good news is, the Red Lion's nearby.” But... “the bad news is, it's onboard that Galra ship now orbiting Arus.” Seriously, I get assigned the one lion that’s currently onboard the ship of a genocidal alien race? How could this get any worse? I cross my arms in frustration.

“But wait, good news again. We're Arus!” Coran finishes. How comforting.

“They're here already?” Shiro questions.

“Yes. Guess my calculations were a bit off.” Yeah if by a ‘bit’ you mean a couple of days. “Finger counting—I-It's more of an art than a science. Hmm?” good God, our fate is in the hands of an Alien that probably can’t even count how many hands he even has. Super.

Before we can decide on our next course of action, the main screen in the front of the room lights up with an incoming transmission, this can’t be good. A giant purple head appears on the glowing screen, and with a booming voice, he says, “Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe,” Lord of the Known Universe, my ass. “I am here to confiscate the Lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet.” Ok, I’m pissed, there’s no way that we are giving them anything, I’ll even take every single one of them out myself if I have to. Then the transmission ends.

Shiro starts, “all right, let's not panic.”

Hunk has other ideas, “Not panic? Th-The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us. We only have four Lions—”

“Technically, only three working Lions,” Pidge corrects.

“That's right. Thank you, Pidge,” Hunk Continues, “Three working Lions an-and a Castle that's, like, 10,000 years old.”

“A-Actually, it's 10,600 years old. You see, it was built by my grandfather—” interjects Coran.

“Thanks, Coran. Thank you for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!” Hunk shouts.

“Wait! This Castle has a particle barrier we can activate” Allura contributes.

To which Lance responds, “Girl, you've already activated my part—” I shoot a glare Allura’s way, curling my fists.

“—Lance!” Shiro interrupts. Thank you Shiro.

Unaffected Coran shares, “The particle barrier won't hold Sendak's ion cannon forever. The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last.”

“Panic now?” Hunk asks the group.

“No.” Shiro answers, “we've just got to figure out our plan of action, and... figure it out quickly.”

Lance responds, “I say we pop through a Wormhole and live to fight another day” and ride off into the sunset with his gorgeous alien princess girlfriend and live happily ever after, blah blah blah.

“I second that,” agrees Hunk. “Yes. I mean, we tried to find all the Lions, right? We gave it the old college try. Couldn't do it. We only have three. We can't form Voltron. I mean, I guess we could form a... snake? Or a worm! To go through that hole, Lance, that you were talking about.”

“Then, it's settled. Allura, you ride with me,” Lance explains, as I fold my arms even tighter against my chest, “one of you take the old guy” he adds pointing to Coran.

Pidge argues, “we can't just abandon Arus. The Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them,” thank you Pidge.

“Okay. If we run, then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone, like when we left Earth. We form the snake-worm thingamajig and we—hisss out of here,” Hunk offers.

I can’t take this anymore, “Sendak could destroy the planet then come after us anyway. Staying is our only option.”

Lance shouts, “Here's an option: shut your quiznak!” pulling his hand across his lips in a zipping motion.

I lean towards him and reply with a glare, “I don't think you're using that word correctly.”

“What do you know, Mullet?” he asks stepping closer to me.

Mullet?

“We're staying,” I say, closing the distance between us.

“Leaving!” He yells, pushing his forehead against mine. His breath mingles with mine, the coolness of his forehead heating up against the warmth of my own, I look forward and my eyes meet his, and for a moment I’m taken aback, his eyes weren’t brown like I thought but more of a Hazel with hints of every color hidden within, I can hear Pidge and Hunk shouting, but it seems distant, I feel lightyears away, lost in the endless pools of—

“Guys, stop!” Shiro commands, and we all jump away from each other.

And I’m breathless, unsure of just how much time has passed, it must have only been seconds, but it felt like infinity staring into those eyes, and I hadn’t wanted it to end.

“Princess Allura,” Shiro continues facing the princess, “these are your Lions. You've dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?”

“I... I-I don't know,” Allura insightfully answers.

“Perhaps your father can help,” Coran enigmatically supplies.

“My father?” asks Allura perplexed.

Coran nods and leads her down the hallway, leaving the five of us alone in the command room.

Once they’re gone, I sigh and look up to see Lance. I’m startled when I realize that he’s looking at me too. I walk up to him and I say, “sorry…”

At the exact same moment that Lance says, “look…” 

We both pause and have this shared laugh, before he adds, “you first.”

“Sorry about earlier, I guess I’m a bit of a hot head sometimes.” 

“You could say that,” he says grinning, “but I shouldn’t have gone off on you like that either. There’s just something about you that gets me so riled up,” he admits.

Oh.

He continues, “probably some residual competitiveness from the Garrison.”

Oh.

I pause, trying to figure out my next course of action.

“Yeah well,” I start, “next time, just shut your stupid quiznak” I answer softly with a smirk.

He gave me a playful grin before replying, “I don’t think you’re using that word correctly.” 

I start to shift closer to him, and I could have sworn he was doing the same when Allura and Coran walk back into the room. We jump back, when the princess, who has changed into some sort of battle suit instead of her gown, says, “You five Paladins were brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope. We are the universe's only hope.”

I know she’s right, we are Voltron, and we need to get that lion so that we can defend the universe, the universe needs us.

Shiro says what we’re all thinking, “We're with you, Princess.”

The princess nods, expecting such an answer, before adding, “good, let’s get you into your suits.”

And we follow her lead.


	8. Keith 1.1.8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song: Champion by Bishop Briggs

Keith 1.1.8

We follow Allura down the torch-lit hallway, taking unfamiliar turns until we reach a new room. Darker than the others, until Allura reaches the center triggering, what must be motion-sensing lights. Behind the princess are clear tubes similar to the sleeping pods, but within each tube is a suit of armor, each with a color corresponding to different lions, blue, red, black, green, and yellow. They’re all here.

“Your suits of armor,” Allura says motioning towards the tubes.

“Cool!” exclaims Lance, running towards the blue suit.

“Outstanding,” comments Shiro as he reaches his black suit.

I approach my red suit, “Nice,” I admit. I take a closer look at this new ensemble. It appears to have a skin-tight black base layer, with white shin guards that go up to just above the mid-thigh, there’s also a matching white breastplate. The white plates all have similar turquoise lines that glow along the sides, so they must be powered with something similar to the castle and the lions, with red accents, on the knees and shoulder pads. The breastplate has a red ‘v’ shaped accent along the center, which I can only assume is a symbol for Voltron.

“Oh, neat!” Shouts Pidge.

“Hmm... Mmm... hmm” I hear Hunk murmur as he compares the size of the suit to himself.

“Princess, are you sure about this?” I hear Coran ask Allura, “They aren't exactly the best and brightest the universe has to offer.”

We’ll just have to prove you wrong then, alien-who-can’t-count-his-own-fingers.

“No, but they're all we've got,” answers Allura.

You’ll see, we’ll be the best paladins these elvish aliens have ever seen.

“Boys, it's time to suit up!” Shiro announces.

Once we’ve got our gear on, Allura leads us away yet again. Walking us over to a table that has objects that appear to have handholds on them. She motions to the table, “The Bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron. It takes a distinct shape for each Paladin.”

As we all grab our color-coded weapons, Hunk’s evolves into the biggest gun type thing that I’ve ever seen, mine turns into a broad sword, Lance’s changes into a rifle type gun, and Pidge’s forms a glowing green edge.

“Aw, you got a cute little bayard” Lance jeers at Pidge.

Pidge taps his bayard on Lance’s arm, causing him to get electrocuted, and fall on to the floor in a jittery mess, I almost laugh. 

“Yeah, it is pretty cute,” says Pidge as Lance lies in a heap on the ground.

Allura turns to Shiro, “Shiro, I'm afraid your Bayard was lost with its Paladin.”

“I guess I'll just have to make do,” Shiro shrugs. I’m gonna need to keep an eye on him, if Shiro doesn’t have a bayard like the rest of us, then he’s going to need backup.

Back on the bridge, in all our uniforms, and holding our new bayards, Allura addresses me, “You'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship.”

“That's a.. pretty big ship. How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?” I ask her.

But to my surprise, its Pidge who answers, “Oh, it's not a matter of we. It's a matter of you.”

“Pidge is right. Once we get you in, you'll be able to feel its presence and track it down,” Hunk elaborates.

“Yeah,” Lance adds turning towards me, “you know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert?”

I nod, “Yeah. You made fun of me for that,” I say with a pointed look.

“And I'm proud of that,” he says with a smile, “but” he continues seriously, “turns out it's exactly like that mumbo-jumbo.”

“Keith, remember,” Allura shares, “the Red Lion is extremely temperamental. You'll have to earn its respect.”

Nothing’s ever easy.

“All right. Here's our plan of attack,” Shiro starts and we circle up.

Shiro and I are waiting in Pidge’s lion, for Lance and Hunk to begin phase one of our plan. 

Lance’s voice comes over our helmet radios, “Attention, Galra ship. Do not fire. We're surrendering our Lions.”

Lance stops transmitting to the Galra and says in our private channel, “Hope this works.”

I can hear the nerves in his voice, he’s doing his best to remain the strong confident Lance that we all recognize and depend on, but I can tell he’s scared. But it will work, it has to.

Now with Lance and Hunk distracting Sendak, Shiro, Pidge, and I fly towards the enemy ship. Once we are close enough, we cut a small hole in the side of the ship, where we can enter and begin our search for the red lion.

Lance’s voice comes over our radio again and asks, “Pidge, what's your ETA?”

Pidge responds, “We're in.”

So far so good, I’m about to enter the ship when Shiro who’ eyes glaze over and briefly says, “I've been here before. After I was taken by the Galra cruiser off Kerberos, they brought us here.”

“So, that means your other crew members, they might be held captive here. We... We've got to rescue them,” Pidge adds.

“Pidge, we don't have time. We have to get the Red Lion and get back to Arus,” Shiro argues.

“But we can't just leave prisoners here!” Pidge yells. I’m shocked, I never really thought Pidge was the yelling type, but I have to agree. If we are gonna do this Voltron-defender-of-the-universe-thing right then we need to help as many innocent people as we can.

“Look, no one understands that more than me, but, in war, we have to make hard choices. Now, let's get moving,” Shiro finishes.

But Pidge is not backing down, “No! Commander Holt is my father. He and my brother were the ones on the Kerberos Mission with you.”

“Commander Holt is your father?” Shiro says quietly, stunned. He sounds even more surprised than me, and I’m pretty shocked.

“Yes. I've been searching everywhere for him and my brother. And I'm not going to give up looking when I'm this close. I won't!” Pidge shouts, determined.

Shiro levels his gaze at Pidge, nods and tells him, “I'm coming with you.”

“What?” I ask dumbly.

“I remember where the prisoners are held. Keith, you go find the Red Lion.”

“By myself?” I ask again, mad at myself for letting this moment of weakness shine through.

“Minor change of plans. You'll be fine. Just remember, patience yields focus.” Shiro tells me as we all jump into the alien spaceship.

I run down the halls alone, careful to avoid any unwelcome Galra. The halls of this ship are a dark purple, with red and white lights, along the walls. I keep moving forward, I need to pick up the pace. I close my eyes trying to sense the lion. Like Lance said, ‘you know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert?’ 

‘You made fun of me for that’

‘turns out it's exactly like that mumbo-jumbo’

I try to sense where the lion is, expanding my mind, but I don’t feel anything. I stop by a wall with a bright Galra symbol. I’m exhausted and we are running out of time. I can’t let my team down, they are risking their lives right now, so that I can reach this lion. I keep running and running and running. When I stop to rest, I end up right in front of the same wall with the exact same symbol again. 

“You've got to be kidding me!” I shout angrily. I need to find this lion, I have to find this lion. My team is counting on me, hell, the universe is counting on me. I breathe in, breathe out, and repeat the words that Shiro told me earlier, “... 'Patience... yields focus…” I whisper to myself, slowing my heart rate, calming my mind. Then it hits me, like a string around my heart, I start to feel a pull, a tug, towards what can only be my lion. 

“Gotcha!” Red here I come, and I take off down the hallway.

The tugging leads me to a small ship hangar, it seems empty, but I know my presence will soon my known. I ran into the room, and that’s when I see her, the red lion. I approach the lion, placing my hand on the red force field that surrounds it.

“Bingo. Let's get out of here. Open up” I say to the lion.

Nothing happens, I flashback to that moment in the cave when Lance said, ‘Maybe you just have to knock.’

It seemed outrageous at the time, but it worked for him and maybe it’ll work for me. I knock on the door, the forcefield ripples around my fist, but nothing has happened yet again.

“It's me. Keith. Your buddy. It's me! Keeeeeeiiiiith, your—I. AM. YOUR. PALADIN!” I scream in frustration.

Nothing happens, and before I can try anything else I hear Galra guards coming. Lasers are shooting at me from all sides. 

I try one last time, “I'm bonding with you! Hey! Come on! We're connected!” 

With still no response, I start to fight the Galra Guards. “You're not getting this lion!”

I charge the first soldier, I slash my sword in his direction, which he effectively blocks. He tries to shoot me with his gun, but I use my shield to take the brunt of the shot, and I shove him away. A second soldier approaches, and I quickly slash his legs sending him careering towards the ground, but as more soldiers appear, there’s too much enemy fire for me to block them all and I am sent flying backward, landing harshly on my back. The wind was knocked out of my lungs, but I have to get up, as I struggle to rise I notice the large button on the center control panel. I cover my face with my helmet and make the snap decision to press the button. In one fell swoop, all the Soldiers get sucked into space. I try to hold on to the control panel with all my strength, but debris is coming at me from all sides, and before I can dodge, a piece of metal knocks the grip of my right hand, and my left hand is the only thing keeping me from falling into nothingness, I look up to get another glance at the lion, but all that I see is a giant mass, hurtling straight for me and the next thing I know, I’m falling into the black abyss of space.

As the panic starts to hit me, that I might die out here all alone floating forever in the endless sea that is outer space, I see the mouth of the red lion coming for me. 

Looks like I’ve earned her permission, to become her paladin. Finally, I seat myself in the cockpit and get a look around. It feels right like I was always meant to be here. 

“Good kitty,” I praise the lion, “Let's roll.”

And together we take off to meet up with the rest of the group.

As I meet up with the rest of the lions, I fly over the Galra ship just in time to see Hunk crash into their Ion canon. Nice job Hunk.

“You guys made it!” Hunk shouts into the radio.

“Kitty Rose has left the stage!” Pidge exclaims.

“Let's get the heck out of here” Lance comments, and I agree, we need to get away from these people as soon as possible.

“I hope I stopped that cannon. I could barely make a dent in it!” Hunk explains. Me too Hunk, me too.

With the four lions together, we head back to the castle, so that we can get Shiro into the black lion. 

Once we arrive, Pidge lets Shiro out of the green lion, as we wait for the black lion to be released from its bay. We all watch Shiro from our lions, waiting for movement, any movement from the black lion. After a few moments, the doors that hold the black lion within glow and open up to reveal a large robotic lion twice the size of any of our lions painted black with red wings. The lion rears forward and lets out a ferocious roar, and each of our lions responds in kind. 

We did it, we actually did it. We can form Voltron now, and finally, defeat Zarkon and save the universe. But before we get too excited, I hear Coran on the coms shout, “Oh, Quiznak!”

Followed by Allura elaborating, “Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere. We need Voltron now!”

Shiro enters the black lion, and with a roar, he takes off, and the rest of us follow. This is it, were are going into battle. I feel my body thrum with adrenaline and excitement for the fight ahead, let’s take them down.

The castle shields are up as soon as we are out, and the Galra ships start firing. Good thing Coran and Allura have been working so hard to get that place up and running. 

“Man, those Galra guys repair things fast” Hunk says, commenting on their quick ability to fix his dent in their ion cannon.

“The barrier gets weaker with every blast. Once that shield goes down, the Castle will be defenseless,” Coran adds. As if I need any more motivation to crush these guys.

“I can give you cover with the Castle defenses for a while, but you have to form Voltron now or we'll all be destroyed!” Allura yells.

“Jeez, no pressure,” Hunk mutters.

“Listen up, Team Voltron! The only way to succeed is to give it all you've got! This looks bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?” Shiro leads.

We all provide a collective, “Yes!”

“Let's do this!” Shiro exclaims.

The Galra fighters are putting us under heavy fire, we have to form Voltron right now, but—

“Uh, how?” Lance finishes my thought for me.

Shiro responds, “Good question. Does anyone have any ideas of how to form Voltron?”

“I don't see a ‘Combine Into Giant Robot’ button anywhere on my dashboard” Hunk answers.

Meanwhile, we are getting attacked on all fronts by more and more Galra fighters, I don’t know how much more of this we can take.

“This is insane! Can't they just ceasefire for one minute so we can figure this out? Is that too much to ask?” Pidge laments. Why don’t you go ahead and ask Pidge, while we all just sit here patiently… I hate stupidity.

Pidge and I attack two ships each, taking all four down.

“We've got to do something,” I add helpfully.

Hunk yells, “Combine!” as he rams his lion directly into my lion.

What the hell, this isn’t bumper cars, “Hey!” I shout.

“Okay, that didn't work,” Hunk replies.

“Quickly, Paladins! Our energy levels are getting low!” Allura exclaims one more time.

The sounds from the enemy canons and the shouts from everyone combined with my brain working on overtime trying to come up with a solution is starting to overwhelm me. I don’t know what to do, I look at Shiro’s lion, trying to will an answer into existence.

Like he read my mind, Shiro offers, “Maybe if we fly in formation, we'll just combine. Take off on my cue. One, two, three, Voltron!”

We all fly together, up higher and higher. 

“Here we go!” I shout.  
“Come on, come on!” repeats Lance.

“Nothing's happening,” Shiro says, exasperated.

“Hey, w-wait, wait, wait! I feel something!” Lance says excitedly.

“I do, too. I feel it. It's like we're all being pulled in the same direction!” Hunk adds.

“Uh, guys, I think I know why,” Shiro says, “Look up.”

I do as he says and look out my lion and realize that we are all trapped in some sort of tractor beam that's pulling us all towards the Galra ship.

Lance, frustrated, asks “What the cheese?”

“Sendak's ship is sucking us in like a black hole!” Pidge explains.

Just then, I hear an explosion down below and see that the particle barrier around the castle just shattered. Leaving the castle completely open to enemy fire.

“Oh, no!” Shiro exclaims.

“I-I don't care what you say, Shiro. I'm panicking now!” screams Hunk, and I think we all are.

“It can't end here!” yells Pidge determinedly

“This is it” whispers Lance. 

I can’t believe it, this might be the end of the road. At least I got to experience what it felt like to be a part of something bigger than myself, even if it was just for the briefest of times.

I take a breath before telling everyone solemnly, “It's been an honor flying with you boys.”

“Oh, no!” says Hunk.

“No! We can do this. We have to believe in ourselves. We can't give up. We are the universe's only hope. Everyone is relying on us. We can't fail! We won't fail! If we work together, we'll win together!” Shiro says with everything that he has left. 

And I feel it, the power, surging in all of us, through our lions, we can do this. Suddenly I have hope, and like that string, I felt earlier leading me to my lion, I know what to do.

I think we are all on the same page as we all scream, “Yeah!”

In the blink of an eye, we have merged, at that moment we came together as a team, and built up Voltron, the defender of the universe.

“I can't believe it!” I shout to the group.

“We formed Voltron!” comments Pidge.

“I'm a leg!” adds Hunk.

“How are we doing this?” questions Lance.

“I don't know, but let's get that cannon!” commands Shiro.

Together we break out of the tractor beam and shoot the canon with blasters that Voltron has summoned. Making quick work of the Galra ship, and protecting the castle from any more enemy fire.

“Good work, Paladins!” Allura’s voice compliments.

“Thanks, pretty lady,” replies Lance, and I don’t like it.

“We did it,” Shiro comments.

Yeah we did, and I couldn’t be more proud of us, “Heck yeah, we did!”

“How did we do it?” Shiro asks the group.

“I was just, like, screaming the whole time. Maybe that did it,” Hunk offers.

We all land our lions back at the castle, and meet Allura and Coran in the courtyard in front of the castle.

“We won the battle, but the war has only just begun. I'm afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these Lions,” Allura explains.  
“Good thing you Paladins know what you're doing because you're going to have to form Voltron again and again,” Coran continues.

“Totally—Wait, what?” Hunk asks looking panicked.

“We barely survived forming Voltron this one time,” Lance says.

“And you only had to fight one ship. Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them! It's not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe,” explains Coran.

This is it, we are officially paladins of Voltron, defenders of the universe.

We all look up at our lions, with the sun setting in the distance, this was the end of this battle, but it was just the beginning of something huge and amazing.

Shiro, our leader, says to the group, “defenders of the Universe, huh? That's got a nice ring to it.”

And I would have to agree.

END OF PART ONE

STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO


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